Democracy Hangs In The Balance

October 7, 2002

No one exists in a vacuum and so it shouldn't be surprising that the political debate surrounding the U.S. Senate election in New Jersey since the vacation of Robert Torricelli last week has implications for the entire country and even democracy itself.

The GOP asserts that it is unlawful to add a new candidate at this stage of the race. This, of course, would result in a Republican victory in New Jersey and a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, a virtual green light to an executive branch that already controls the House of Representatives and the U.S. Supreme Court. The Democratic alternative appeals to a sense of self-determination in suggesting that the written election laws should be ignored to reach an equitable resolution, namely another Democratic candidate. Setting a precedent such as this would be extraordinarily dangerous considering the painstaking steps the ambitious Bush administration has taken to lawfully move toward pre-emptive attacks on foreign countries. Not surprisingly, there are no third party or independent candidates. The current issue in New Jersey weighs our reliance on checks and balances with our passion for the rule of law.